Would you max budget on a doer upper as a longterm project?

[ColdAsMice]

We've seen an amazing property, the type we could never in a million years afford if it was in good condition. It's huge, period so lots of character and in a great location too. But it's at the top end of our budget and it's in major need of modernisation.

It isn't derelict...it's currently lived in by an elderly couple and habitable. But there are degrees of habitable, aren't there. As in - it has water and electrics and some sort of heating system, but all ancient. The decor is vile, but that's the least of my concerns. Structurally it seems pretty sound except for some exterior plasterwork cracking. Windows etc are all in place although it's old single glazing. Massively dated bathroom and kitchen suites but usable.

We would have no money to do any work to it en masse so it would have to be dribs and drabs over time, as money came in. But its the only way we could ever possibly afford a house like this, and we'd never need to move from it once complete (if it ever was complete!)

Good investment or really stupid idea?

@sarah13xx

Awww, what?! Everyone’s saying no! Where’s their sense of adventure? 😂🙈

No job is too hard for the woman who doesn't have to do it herself.

I think that’s entirely fair — and I say that as someone in the early stages of renovating a wreck with an actual budget from selling our old house. It’s also a particularly challenging and expensive time to do it, with the costs of basic materials spiralling, and tradesmen booked up way ahead.

and you will get fed up with it. Long before it's finished.

No. This isn't the kind of reno you can do in dribs and drabs. If it needs rewiring, a new heating system, properly insulating (inc probably new windows etc) you will need to have those done before you think about decor.
You need to know you've got the cash to tackle things that come up as it would be really depressing just watching things get gradually worse, or to be caught out by a major cost arising (roof/heating system goes etc).
We are in a house which is totally liveable and about 50% renovated but which needs loads of work. It's a mental drain as well as a financial one. Bear in mind that building costs are 20-30% higher than normal at the moment due to shortage of labour and materials.

It's a question of how much you really want to pay to live in your dream property. If you don't pay for it in the purchase price you have to pay it later on.

Surely it depends how much you love renovations and how skilled you are or how much you are willing to learn. I cant think of anything more fun than working through the night once the kids are in bed and am on my 5th property. Nothing more satisfying and enjoyable. Absolutely no need to replace windows - it totally ruins the appearance. Gradually restore the originals and add secondary glazing at £200 per window. If you cant live in total mess for years and dont enjoy a project then it isnt for you but it will be for some people.

Absolutely not because you cannot afford it

We're about to sell a property just like the one you're describing. Owned by elderly people, nothing done to it for years, habitable...

... trouble is I also happen to know that it's a money pit and while habitable just about everything needs redoing (except the boiler - that's only about 10 years old, so basically brand new by comparison). I have this constant feeling that something major is going to happen prior to sale, like the retaining wall in the garden collapsing.

I wouldn't if I were you.

Interestingly, it's still not sold after being on the market 2.5 weeks despite the fact it will 100% be worth 300k+ more than its current sale price when done up. We live in a developer hotspot too and I know there were back to back viewings booked...so clearly even the heavyweights are seeing it as too much or seeing some major alarm bells.

For what it's worth, we aren't total newbies - our current property needed modernisation and we've spent almost 100k on it with major extension / conversion/ new heating system / asbestos removal / new bathroom / full redecoration over 5 years. But it was far more liveable at the point we bought it, and we had 50k off the bat to play with from the sale of the previous property.

@sarah13xx

Just going to read these comments as I’m in a very similar dilemma at the moment. Leave our perfectly nice house that needs no work done to it and move to a bungalow of similar condition to the one you’ve described. Only thing it has extra is double glazing but the heating is oil 🙄 The major benefit is the absolutely humongous garden and it’s in almost the absolute dream spot I’d want to stay in our town. But we really would be skint trying to do it up bit by bit and we have a baby who would need to live in this building site with us.

My head says take the sensible option and don’t consider it but my heart says take the risk. I’ve heard so much sad news recently and I just think if I was lying on my death bed telling my grandkids about my life would I rather we had achieved our dream home and lived there forever or say I played it safe and stayed in a ‘nice’ house?! Life is meant to be one adventure after another.. go for it 😉

This is very much DH's view, Sarah - although even he agrees this project is probably too big.

Does seem a bit bonkers as you already know you don't have enough money to do the work it needs. Sorry OP. At best you would be scrimping and saving for the rest of your life- is it really worth it.

I can see you’ve decided against, but just wanted to add that I agree with a couple of other posters who said windows don’t necessarily need replaced and it’s relatively cheap to secondary glaze them yourself if have had a bit of diy knowledge. It makes a huge difference to the warm of our house.
But I think you’d ideally not want to start a big project like that without at least 50k to spend. It’s surprising how it all adds up, even just redecorating.
I suppose if you really love it would it be worth a cheeky offer?? Ours was very cheeky indeed but given the amount of work required and the time on the market (about 3 yrs) I think they were just happy to pass it onto a family they knew would love the house as much as their family had and have the time and funds to restore it and bring it back to being a family home

@notangelinajolie

Do it. We did and have reaped the rewards. If we'd bought a cheaper safer option we would never have been in the position we are in now. We've just moved and were able to buy our final forever home cash with money to spare. It won't be easy ... but so worth it in the end.

But did you do it on zero budget bar (possible) bonuses? I don't think anyone would say 'never buy a doer-upper'. But the OP says "We would have no money to do any work to it" That's why some of us, who otherwise have said elsewhere 'got for it' are saying 'too much'. Or at least- think very hard before doing it. If you did yours on a high-risk no-budget, bear in mind that though the big risk you took paid off for you, it was still a big risk, and some people have taken similar big risks and got into a right mess. Like the people I know of who had to sell up because of a redundancy and ended up having to auction their house and get a poor price because a half-done up house can be worth less than one not even started.

(sorry, I meant 'said go for it', of course)